SNES games will ‘run on the system with quality results,’ says Nintendo

Super Metroid needs a faster CPU than the original 3DS? Photo: Nintendo

When we realized that only the New 3DS hardware would run these older-than-many-gamers games from the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, we were hard pressed not to think of it as yet another cash grab by Japan’s venerable gaming company. I mean, how many portable Nintendo gaming systems do we really need?

Today, however, Nintendo tells Game Informer that the reason you need new hardware is because the new hardware has a better CPU in it. To run games from 25 years ago. Ok.

“As previously announced, New Nintendo 3DS has an improved CPU, which enables Super NES games to run on the system with quality results,” a Nintendo rep told Game Informer. “The Super NES games also include Perfect-Pixel mode, which allows players to see their games in their original TV resolution and aspect resolution.”

I’m not a coder, but it seems silly that a game made for a 16-bit system with simulated 3D, a palette of 32,768 colors and 8-channel audio needs an even faster CPU than a gaming system that runs things like Fire Emblem Fates, which came out this year.